Sunday Gospel Reflection
Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing

Introduction

Expectations

What do people expect from religion and the Church? What happens when their expectations are unfulfilled?.

Religion has many functions for our society. Some equate religious life with private life. For these people, faith has a psychological dimension, a spiritual balm that soothes the stress and strains of daily life. Or, Church acts as a private club, a Sunday meeting place for friends.

Others see religion as a moral barometer, a social conscience. Religious leaders should point the way to a better life, a higher example. Religious people should help the needy and the oppressed. In this way, they can help to build a better society.

These, and many other reasons, are good, solid reasons that argue for religious life and the existence of the Church. But they don't get to the root reason for religion and religious groups. The ultimate reason for religion is faith, a relationship with God. The Church is to foster that faith.

Jesus came to Nazareth for that purpose. But the expectations of the people lie elsewhere.

First Reading
Jeremiah 1:4-5,17-19

4 Now the word of the LORD came to me saying,
5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations."
...
17 But you, gird up your loins; arise, and say to them everything that I command you. Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them.    
18 And I, behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its princes, its priests, and the people of the land.
19 They will fight against you; but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, says the LORD, to deliver you."

Second Reading
1 Corin. 12:31-13:13

12:31But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.
1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful;
5 it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;  
6 it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right.
7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.
9  For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect;
10 but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away.       
11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways.
12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood.
13 So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love

Gospel Reading
Luke 4:21-30

21 And he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." 
22 And all spoke well of him, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth; and they said, "Is not this Joseph's son?"
23 And he said to them, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, 'Physician, heal yourself; what we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here also in your own country.'"   
24 And he said, "Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his own country.
25 But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when there came a great famine over all the land;
26 and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath,in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 
27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian."     
28 When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath.
29 And they rose up and put him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw him down headlong.
30 But passing through the midst of them he went away.

Bible Study/Meditation

Someone has observed that, "there is no better test for a man's ultimate integrity than his behavior when he is wrong." All too often we are graciously amiable to discussing God's Word, and listening to God's truth proclaimed just as long as those doing it don't talk about things that are personal to us. When they do begin drawing inferences that really touch our lives we often respond either outwardly or inwardly, "Now you've stopped preaching and gone to meddling!" Jesus encountered this same response in this week's Gospel Reading. As he finished reading the Scriptures the hearers were all graciously amiable as they expressed their amazement at Jesus' reading. However, as Jesus looked beyond their outward response to their unresponsive and unbelieving hearts their amazement turned to open rejection and hostility at His apparent "meddling."    

This Gospel account raises a question which warrants our attention; "How do we respond to God's call for conversion and change when we encounter it?" And perhaps there is an even  more basic question we should consider: "Do we desire con-version and change?" The hope of the Gospel is that Christ brings a holy and
powerful force into our lives which will enable us to break the bonds of enslavement to our old nature and its passions and habits. Real inner change is often uncomfortable because it requires us to admit that there is an area of our lives that is wrong and needs changing. In our defensiveness we also often shoot the messenger, so to speak, because we do not like the message. We often respond to the agent of change with defensiveness, resistance, and resentment, rather than welcoming the encouragement to change. The first step in conversion and change is to be dissatisfied with our status quo and to recognize that there is a need for spiritual change. Someone has aptly said, "If you think your green you'll grow, if you think you're ripe, you'll rot."

We have recently entered into a new year, will it be a year of responsiveness to Christ, and a year of change and growth, or will it be a year of passive resistance and complacency to the Holy Spirit's working within us? What the new year holds for us reminds me of a story from Forty Days and Forty Nights by Brother Ramon, SSF. He tells of two boys endeavoring to play a joke on a holy hermit. They intended to hold a bird in their hands behind their back and ask the hermit if the bird was dead or alive. If the hermit said it was dead the boy planned to open his hand and let the bird fly up to the sky. If the hermit said it was alive, the boy
planned to crush the bird in his hand to prove that the wise old man was wrong.

"'Father,' said one of the lads, 'I have a small bird in my hand. Is it alive or dead?' There was a silence. The old man fixed him with his gaze. Eventually he chuckled and said: 'Well, boys-it all depends on you!'"

Will this coming year be spiritually alive or spiritually dead? Will it be a year of responsiveness to Christ, and a year of change and growth, or will it be a year of
passive resistance and complacency to the Holy Spirit working within? Like the lads in the story, "It all depends on you!"

Reflections:

· Please re-read the phrase(s)/sentence(s) that move(s)/touche(s) you and what inner message of the heart is the Spirit whispering to you?

. How did Jesus pray in his time of difficulty? In John 17, Jesus prayed a prayer for his disciples called the "priestly prayer." Even before his death, he prayed for the unity of his followers and for union with his followers. His prayer teaches us the true measure of prayer, the desire to be one with God at every point in life. (2758)
  ----What do you expect from prayer? How have your expectations been fulfilled? How has your prayer life helped (or hindered) your faith life?

. Expectations are always hard to fulfill. But, faith is not based upon expectations, but on a relationship with God. We must recognize the difference between the two. And place our expectations before God. (Not the other way around!)
  ----Make a list of expectations you have of others, especially of the Church and its leaders? Take a moment and place those expectations before God. Do this for the next week. Then review your list. How have your expectations changed?

.How do you feel when someone points out an area of deficiency in your life?

.How do you think the people felt when Jesus "passing through the midst of them he went away"? What are the ramifications of his doing this?

.Jesus always shows His love through action. How do I show His love to my brothers and sisters?

.How well do I listen or react to the people that I dislike even though their intentions are good?

.It is difficult for us today to appreciate what Jesus suffered to show His love. Meditate on how great His love is for

Prayer

Lord Jesus, you are the fulfillment of all our hopes and desires. Your Spirit brings us grace, truth, life, and freedom. Fill me with the joy of the gospel and inflame my heart with love and zeal for you and for your will.